The Unseen Relationship Between Schizophrenia And Religion

The nature of schizophrenia, and other forms of psychosis, is still a largely debated topic. The Old Testament uses the same term in reference to madness sent by God to punish the disobedient, as well as to describe the behavior of prophets (Rosen, 1968). Many of the symptoms of acute schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder, such as delusions and hallucinations are often expressed in religious form (Smith, 1982). The physical objects of existence are things such as food, clothing, shelter, pleasure etc. The spiritual objects of existence are determined by each creature’s knowledge of the divine, such as divine joy, divine love and so on (Chimento, 1997). The relationship between psychosis and mystical or religious experiences is worthy of discussion.

To begin to understand schizophrenia and mysticism, one must first have a functional definition of both. Most experts on mysticism cite the same qualities when attempting to define mystical experience: experience of unity, intense affective experience, time/space distortion, “noetic” quality, ineffability, and a sense of holiness or sacredness.

Likewise, one must have a functional definitio

For many schizophrenics, delusions are experienced in a divine right sort of way. When a schizophrenic experiences the Divine, the object for existence becomes eternal life with the Divine and is no longer physical (Chimento, 1997). That person is guided by those things that tend toward that object of its existence. The experiencing of the Divine, can also be termed “being in the presence of God” or being in the presence of the Holy Spirit (as would be termed in Western Religion).

The problem encountered throughout time has been to discover what it truly mean to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Since God is suprasensorial we can eliminate anyone’s being in the presence of God if the person hears audible voices or sees describable images (Chimento, 1997). Schizophrenia in most cases manifests itself in vivid delusions, such as a person believing that they are God, that they have special access to God that others do not have, and they quite possibly may experience visions or conversations with spiritual beings including God. To these people, their visions and delusions are very real and they in fact use these delusions to reinforce their belief systems (White, n.d.). It is therefore, very difficult to separate those individuals who have truly experienced being in God’s presence and those individuals suffering from schizophrenia.

The relationship between religion and schizophrenia (or mysticism and psychosis) is a co

Some topics in this essay:
Spirit God, Schizophrenia Religion, William James, Historically West, Psychotic Features”, IV DSM-IV, God God, Grof Grof, Western Religion, David Lukoff, mystical experience, vocalize god, chimento 1997, presence holy spirit, god vocalize, mental illness, objects existence, stahlman 1992, functional definition, holy spirit, god vocalize god, “noetic” quality,